Fetching Water
by oldhokages
Summary: It was just mind-numbingly frustrating to see every female that they came into contact with blush to their toes when Sasuke so much as glanced at them when Sasuke himself showed about as much interest in women as a dead frog in a door jam.
1. Fetching Water

Suigetsu lacked _it_, it being whatever it was that attracted girls like Karin to guys like Sasuke as flies were attracted to the proverbial honey pot. He supposed he was good looking enough – he had two sets of canine teeth, if you were into that sort of thing – and he didn't smell. He'd asked Juugo about that last week when he had been snubbed by yet another inn maid. He was prone to amassing a damp funk when they went about traveling for too long and he had thought that maybe his scent was unappealing and thus turning away the ladies, but when that proved to be a false lead he was back to square one.

Not that he really wanted grubby faced maids (with disarmingly pert asses) to like him.

Certainly not.

It was just mind-numbingly _frustrating_ to see every female that they came into contact with blush to their toes when Sasuke so much as glanced at them when Sasuke himself showed about as much interest in women as a dead frog in a door jam.

"You should try to care less," Juugo suggested almost helpfully.

Suigetsu felt like Juugo was the least qualified person he knew to be giving love advice, so instead he devoted most of his being to caring a whole damn lot. If Suigetsu wasn't getting any, nobody was getting any. This philosophy had manifested in practice by his actively cockblocking Karin whenever he could, if only for her attention (of which he was unfortunately starved.) It was a failing tactic. Karin was crafty and underhanded and... and notoriously good at giving both he and Juugo the slip and disappearing with Sasuke for what he presumed had to be a most unsatisfying attempt to awaken whatever latent sexuality Sasuke possessed. Judging from the way Karin remained stalwartly sour, she had yet to succeed.

It warmed Suigetsu's heart. But it also pissed him off.

He wasn't sure what to make of that.

"You should _really_ care less."

"Eh, what do you know?"

Juugo was in a tree, harassing some birds and Suigetsu was having none of his awkward attempts at profundity. Karin and Sasuke were supposed to be back by now and if Suigetsu wanted to get himself worked up about it, he would. It had nothing to do with the fact that his companions had been off on their own for close to an hour (which was plenty of time for all kinds of sordid encounters.)

It had everything to do with the fact they were having to sleep out in the wilderness since Sasuke had some kind of aversion to modern comfort and luxury and couldn't be pestered into traveling the mere 20 kilometers to the next village on Karin's radar. He was also _thirsty,_ which was another (valid!) reason to be appalled by Sasuke and Karin's disappearance. They had gone to get water since Suigetsu had lost his water fetching privileges (...he really couldn't be getting onto anyone about dicking around a watering hole and forgetting to come back) and Juugo was already precariously perched with his feathered friends. But they could have hurried. He was technically _dying_, after all.

"I'm going to find them," he announced, standing.

Juugo whistled lightly. There were no spoken words but he had clearly said _that's a bad idea._

"Fuck off." Suigetsu wasn't much for unspoken subtleties.

He left Juugo softly swaying in the treetop and marched in the direction Sasuke and Karin had left. His ears were sensitive and so was his nose, so he both heard the faint bubble of the stream and smelt its damp banks before he saw it. The foliage wasn't so much dense as it was impenetrable and he was deeply considering hacking and slashing his way through when he heard them. Faint voices, hushed voices, one soft and a bit squeaky and the other dipping lower and lower in a timbre that made Suigetsu nervous. He still wanted to slice the forest into submission by and large, but a smaller and quieter part of him really, _really_ wanted to hear what they were saying. He edged closer and under the cover of the very flora he despised, he was able to eavesdrop quite efficiently.

"You were fetching water then, too." That was Karin, who sounded more soft and sincere than Suigetsu imagined her capable. "You had a water bottle in your hand, and..."

"I didn't think I would ever see you again," Sasuke murmured in response. This struck Suigetsu as odd. As a rule, Sasuke did not do anything as gentle as _murmur_, yet his dulcet tones were unmistakable even at a distance. "I didn't think it would matter."

"Oh."

He didn't need to see Karin's face to know that Sasuke had just shattered her. Suigetsu could feel the despondency rolling off her in waves, and the way the weight of her sadness settled on him was completely unwelcome. Normally he was all for tormenting Karin, whittling away at her composure until it cracked and frayed. He liked making her squirm and riling her up until the steam was practically coming out of her ears. It wasn't hard – she _was_ a redhead. But this was something else and he took no pleasure in the way Sasuke had just rendered her fragile and gone in for the kill. What he had with Karin was pure sport. This was more like warfare.

A beat of silence passed and Suigetsu became acutely aware of his own heartbeat. Sasuke spoke again in a barely audible whisper.

"But I did, and it does."

It was quiet again and Suigetsu didn't like it. He shifted his position, watching as his hand reached out and pushed aside the curtain of vegetation that hid them from view. Already he was very sure what he would see and he didn't want to look, but he was on autopilot. He couldn't help it, and when he did look as much as he wished he hadn't, he couldn't turn away.

They were kissing.

He had known they were. They were kissing in a way that said _finally_, like they had always been out of each others' grasp instead of fully within it for weeks and weeks on end. It made Suigetsu a little sick to watch as Karin's face heated up slowly until it matched her hair and her glasses slipped. Sasuke looked about as enthusiastic as Suigetsu had ever seen him (not saying much) but he too was dusted pink from cheek to cheek.

Suigetsu slunk away. He didn't want to get caught.

Sasuke might actually kill him.

…and he might kill Sasuke.

Thirst forgotten, Suigetsu legged it back to the campsite where he had left Juugo and threw himself down angrily at the base of the larger boy's tree. He was upset and just dense enough not to realize why. Yes, this was infuriating, but not wholly unexpected. How long could a person reasonably hold out with Karin throwing herself at them, anyway? Suigetsu crossed his arms and stewed in his own foreign emotion. Brooding didn't really come naturally to him, but he made a fine show of it anyway.

Above him, Juugo whistled lightly. It said _I told you so. _He climbed down.

"You smell nice."

"Fuck off."


	2. Fluid (unncessary continuation)

**A/N:** _Fetching Wate_r is technically complete at the end of the first drabble. This is just a continuation and is too short for me to justify publishing it separately.

* * *

**Fluid**

Suigetsu was falling behind. Typical.

If she hadn't known for a fact that the boy was a fish, she would have accused him of being a slug. Every hundred meters or so she glanced over her shoulder at him where he was slowly drawing back. Normally she would blame that stupid, gargantuan sword, but Karin was fairly certain there was another reason Suigetsu was trailing. He had definitely been nearby yesterday when she and Sasuke had... She blushed, wondering how much Suigetsu had heard. How much he had seen. It had been a very disorienting experience squaring with Sasuke and as soon as the moment occurred it was swept away like the stream on whose banks they stood. Karin had been so wrapped up, so totally occupied that she hadn't even felt Suigetsu's presence until he was moving away from her. She couldn't even ascertain that he had discovered them at all, but she couldn't shake the raw, grating suspicion that he_ had_.

But maybe he hadn't?

There was only one way to end this guessing game of misery. Karin slowed her pace.

When she evened step with Suigetsu, he eyed her warily and slurped loudly. "Yes?"

She kept her eyes trained on Juugo's back ahead of them. "Yesterday. What were you doing in the woods? You left Juugo."

It was innocuous phrasing. It asked all the questions she needed answered and disguised them as concern (?) for their taller companion of questionable sanity. Still, when she glanced in his direction the way she caught Suigetsu eyeballing her made her feel like he saw right through her drivel. She put her eyes back on Juugo as nonchalantly as possible.

"Pissing," Suigetsu replied at length after he had finished scrutinizing her. "See, when you take in as many fluids as me..."

"You _are_ a fluid," Karin rebuked. "Be serious. You can't just wander off and leave Juugo or anyone else exposed."

That sounded so reasonable. She patted herself on the back.

"Yeah whatever, he can take care of himself. Juugo's a big boy. His balls even dropped last week."

"Don't be crass. I just..."

Suigetsu stopped and looked oddly collected. "You just what? Can't stop thinking about me? Want to know where I am every moment of every day? How flattering."

"Don't be stupid," she hissed.

He sucked hard on his straw and Karin regretted it when she made eye contact.

"Stop that."

"You're more wound up than usual. What's wrong? Is it _that time_ or something?"

Karin tched unhappily. "Why, can you smell blood in the water?"

"Not strictly speaking, no..."

"You will if you keep making dumb jokes," she threatened weakly, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Now, what were you doing?"

"_Pissing_."

"Ugh!"

She marched away after that, leaving him standing in the road. He was so exasperating! Willfully talking to Suigetsu was akin to willfully walking on hot coals, but as she gained ground and caught back up with Juugo and Sasuke she was glad she had taken initiative. She had probably lost five years off her life for her effort, but she felt calmer. Suigetsu wasn't clever; he wouldn't have passed up the opportunity to lord it over her if he'd caught her doing anything compromising or embarrassing the day before by the stream. He wouldn't have seen the chance to bide and wait for the perfect moment to strike back at her because he would have been far too busy looking for the first moment to attack.

Or at least, that's what she told herself.

It made her feel better.


End file.
